Examination of the semantic properties associated with verbs of cutting, contact, change of state and perception.

This paper explores the semantic properties of some Akan verbs: cut, contact by impact, change of state and perception verbs in the context of argument structure and their transitivity. These properties are used as the criteria for identifying the verbs. The verbs have semantic restrictions on their subject and shared arguments. It is found that in terms of semantics the verbs in the study can have many meanings. This research adopted a descriptive and qualitative study. The method applied in the data analysis was distribution method. Data were collected from two major sources. The first one is the primary source. Due to my introspective knowledge as a native speaker of the Asante Twi, I constructed some of the examples myself as and when they occurred to me. The second is the secondary source. The study revealed that the use of the verbs in different syntactic and semantic contexts exhibit different meanings. They require the presence of an agent and at least two other arguments in a construction. This study it will help learners to identify the semantic functions of a verb in a sentence